Chapter One, in which we meet an unsung hero – the Mahoe tree of Aotearoa
Nothing is what it seems, or so it seems. This means it can be very hard to know who and what to believe in our world. What is so true for one person may be very untrue for another person. So just how and where do we start this story?
Let us imagine we begin this story by saying, “In a distant land, a faraway land, far across the great oceans, this amazing story begins.”
Well, this beginning might be true if you live in Africa or Asia or Europe or the Americas.
However it is less true if you live in Indonesia or Australia or the Pacific Islands.
It is, of course, quite untrue if you live in the land of Aotearoa, which some people also call New Zealand.
It is very untrue if you are a child sitting in the third classroom down the main corridor of Te Kura o Haewai, which some people also call Houghton Valley School. For the beginning of this story to be true for these children we would have to begin it by saying, “It is in this very land you live in, in this very school you are in, on this very floor you are seated upon, this amazing story begins.”
Ok, now let us instead imagine we begin again this story by saying, “Once upon a time, a long, long time ago in the distant past, this amazing story begins.”
This is true if you are 5-years old now because you were not even born in the year 2011. You were never alive then to know the time.
However, it would be much less true if you were one of the 5-year children sitting on the carpet in Mahoe classroom in 2011. Since then you have grown up and had time to have so many experiences. So in this year of 2020 even a time 9 years ago may seem very distant to you.
It is probably very untrue if you were already 90 years old in 2011. In 2020 you are now 100 years old and 2011 seems a short time ago in your long life.
Perhaps it is better to start by simply saying, “2011 was the year this amazing story began in Mahoe classroom.”
Finally, let us imagine we begin this story once again. This time we say, “The year was 2011 in Mahoe classroom. Many people in many lands all around our world were fearful and worried. All the soils and forests and water of our world seemed to be dying before their very eyes while storms raged ever worse. They wrung their hands in despair for they did not understand the ways of the universe. Little did they believe help was close at hand if only they listened. This is the amazing story of the 5-year old children of the Mahoe tree that could save our world.
Yes, let us start their amazing story with this beginning. Now we can ask, “Who are the 5-year old children of the Mahoe tree?”
The first thing to know is they are 5-year old children just like you are or you once were and 2011 was their first year at school.
“Which school is that and where is it?” you may well be asking. The school is called Te Kura o Haewai by some and Houghton Valley School by others. It nestles in a valley overlooking Raukawa Moana, which your maps may describe as Cooks Strait, in a country called Aotearoa, which your maps may describe as New Zealand.
The lands of Aotearoa form a chain of mountains a thousand miles long, which stand like two giant walls erupting up out of the South Pacific ocean to block the Roaring Forties.
The Roaring Forties is the name English sailors gave to the mighty winds that whirl and roar around and around the great oceans surrounding the South Pole.
Raukawa Moana or Cooks Strait is the small sea between these two long, mountainous walls. The gap between them is so narrow that, if you are a good walker and could walk on water, you could stroll from one side to the other with ease in one day. Mind you, you would have to give care to choosing a rare, calm day. This because most days and nights the mighty tides and winds roar through the gap with such force you would struggle to stand up to walk.
The air of the Roaring Forties winds looks and smells sparkling clean, for it has been scrubbed clean while passing over near endless Southern oceans.
The children of the Mahoe tree have indeed much reason to be aware of and care for the air we all breathe.
Perhaps you are now asking what’s with the Mahoe tree? Where does the Mahoe tree fit into this amazing story?
There are 10 classrooms at the school known as Te Kura o Haewai or Houghton Valley School. Each classroom is given the Maori name for a type of tree that lives only in the islands of Aotearoa. So, unless you have lived in Aotearoa, you may never have heard of Maori words like Pohutukawa, Rata, Rimu, Harakeke, Nikau, Karaka, Kowhai, Ngaio, Ti Kouka and Mahoe. Each name tells a story of how humans and trees and all the universe is connected.
The story of the Mahoe tree is about how human beings should take great care when we play with fire because fire can both enrich our lives and destroy us all.
There are trees that stand like giants, towering over us, their strength filling us with awe.
There are trees with leaves as small as fairy’s wings and branches so fine that you trample on them because you don’t even see them in the forest gloom.
The Mahoe tree is neither giant nor midget. In some ways Mahoe trees are a bit like children. Many people don’t take much notice of them because they are so common and all around them.
The Mahoe tree is fast growing with ordinary green leaves and ordinary cream-green flowers. It has ordinary greyish-white or bright green bark and bundles of ordinary, little, purple berries that merge with the patchwork of greens and shades of the forest. Its just here, there and everywhere because birds love to eat its berries and you know what happens when they poop out the seeds as they fly.
Like many children, the Mahoe tree has a nickname. One look at its wood and you can guess why many people call it “Whiteywood”.
True heroes just quietly get on with protecting and defending us without pomp and fuss. We often do not even notice them around us because they are so humble and ordinary. The Mahoe tree is one such unsung hero in the great story of life.
Storm winds may strip it of nearly every leaf.
Humans may carve off its branches to the stump.
Does it give up?
No. It sprouts new shoots and tries to be a tree again.
Violent earthquakes may send great rocks crashing and gashing down forested mountain sides.
Thunderous floods of rain may pound and strip mountain sides of their forests and soils.
Often it is only the Mahoe tree that dares cling to the now bare rocks again. Though beaten and battered by constant gales and storms, the Mahoe tree quietly rebuilds the soils so giant trees and delicate ferns can flourish again.
Could it be the 5-year old children of the Mahoe tree are also such quiet heroes? Hear out their amazing story and you can decide.
End Chapter One
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Please note: this is a first draft script (Jan 2020) and prototype format of How the Children of the Mahoe Tree Saved Our World. I plan to create cartoons to complement each chapter as soon as possible. ( 5 cartoons completed Jan 2021)
Please enjoy tolerance – my diplopia means I struggle to read what I write.
This story is based on a true event. A class of five-year olds created the central plot. In the process they showed young children, unlike many adults, retain the vital spirit of inquiry and comprehension of the fundamental thermodynamics required to care for Earth’s atmosphere.
Some grand ideas and questions from Chapter One
Idea: “Spacetime” (Maori “wa”) changes continuously.
Question: Do you know anything that does not change all the time?
Idea: Time is one of our ways of measuring and predicting change.
Question: Have you ever noticed time seems to change depending on where you are and how you are feeling?
Idea: Space is one of our ways of measuring and predicting change.
Question: Have you ever asked why everyone seems to have a different point of view about everything?
Idea: All information (including thoughts and words) is physical.
Question: How do you know things exist that you perhaps cannot see or you perhaps cannot hear or you perhaps cannot smell or you perhaps cannot touch?
Idea: Every single thing is a different story in accord with the principles of physics that each of us is part of.
Question: Ask of something, anything “What’s your story – where do you come from, how did you get here, what can you teach me?”
Chapter two We learn the story behind the Story of the Children of the Mahoe Tree.